Welcome

alive, at this moment, in this place, together.

This video was created by Matt at Treatlightly with music by Matthew Liam Nicholson. Thank you to both of these legendary Matts.

Here We Are - maps for finding is an audio series exploring life aimed at time and resource poor parents and educators. Each week you will receive access to a SHORT (think coffee break) recording from scientists to philsophers, educators to artists as they explore where the phrase Here We Are takes them.

The first instalment Here We Are - Alive we will hear from biochemist Nick Lane, systems ecologist Bill Rees, paleantologist and evolutionary biologist Henry Gee, deathwalker Zenith Virago, astrophysicist Tom Murphy and computational biologist Brandon Ogbunu.

The second chapter, Here We Are - at this moment we will here from Ellen Langer, Tara Brach, John Muir Laws, Karen Barad, Fred Provenza, Laura Jean McKay, Susan Murphy, Jeremy Lent. I wonder where Here We Are will take them? Subscribe for free to find out.

This collection of recordings was born out of a necessity to regulate and maintain my own sanity and inspiration through the ongoing challenges of parenting and educating during these times. I found solace and guidance in these three words Here We Are as they invite presence, pause, perspective and purpose.

I called on many mentors and scholars to provide their reflections and responses to the provocation Here We Are - a phrase that has come to encapsulate both the pedagogy and content of my teaching as well as the gentle reminder and curiousity I need on the daily as a parent.

With the generosity and support of many friends and family for the broader Here We Are project I am now able to share this part of the project with everyone for FREE. All I ask is that you share it with someone else you think may find something of value in them. This is a gift I share in honour of my beloved brother Joel and as an expression of his gentle presence and appreciation for life.

Here We Are - maps for finding meaning will be dividided into four different instalments following the phrase.

Here We Are - alive; at this moment; in this place; together.

Three words that invite you into presence, pause, perspective and purpose.

Three words that offer a map for finding meaning.

Three words, many roads.

Come travel with us on this audio adventure as we follow the short journeys this simple, provocative yet playful phrase offers.

Traverse far and wide with the thoughts and practices offered up by scientists, artists, philosophers and YOU as we create and discover maps for finding meaning. Each week you receive a new short recording. No commitments. No expectations. Just a gift, an invitation, a provocation, a meditation, an exploration …

Here We Are - Where will it take you?

We invite you, parents, carers, educators or anyone to take a moment and travel with us as we explore where this phrase takes us -

Here We Are - alive, at this moment, in this place, together.

In my work as an ecological educator and my struggles as a parent I regularly call on this phrase to bring presence, curiousity and guidance. It operates as a reminder and a roadmap. I use it as a pause, a prompt, a provocation.

Here We Are is a stand alone offering for time and resource poor parents, carers and educators; a heuristic to carry in their pocket to bring point and purpose, presence and connection with our children and life.

The Here We Are project is an invitation to explore it’s application further. Sharing ways to be present, curious and humbled by both the awe and challenges our children and world offer us in every moment.

Please join me here as I play and invite others to explore this phrase in the audio series Here We Are - maps for finding meaning. Each week you will receive access to short recording of someone’s response to the provocation Here We Are. This is an offering, there is no commitment or expectation required on your part. Take it or leave.

Here we are, alive, at this moment, in this place, together.

As co-Founder of Foodweb Education I have now been working for over 20 years in ecological education, listening to and learning from my students and the gardens we grow together, as well as more recently, parenting my own two curious and challenging humans.

The Here We Are project is my attempt to share my explorations and potentially offer other parents, carers and educators a roadmap for guiding children’s curiosity as we grow together. This is not a list of things we should and shouldn’t do but an attempt to acknowledge that the way we think needs to change and the roadmap I’m using to explore and catalyse this change is the phrase Here. We. Are.

Here -

belonging; brings you into your location and the present and opens up questions, observations, sensations of place, space and time

We -

relational, ecocentric worldview and challenging individualism, identifying who is here (human, more than human) and how are we in relation.

Are (To be, being, becoming) -

being; becoming; process philosophies; captures existential questions from science of living systems through to what it means to be a human.

It seems incredibly simple but it can carry you to complex places, thoughts and feelings. Give it a go. Where does this phrase take you?

What you will find in this space are:

• stories from the outdoor classroom and how Here We Are guides my educative practice.

• invitations on ways to engage in the Here We Are project.

• practical exercises to guide ourselves and our children towards an integrated and intuitive understanding of how life and our world works.

Subscribe to get full access to the free audio series Here We Are - maps for finding meaning.

Here We Are maps for making meaning is an audio exploration of life - thank you to the following people for taking us on your adentures:

• Biochemist and author Professor Nick Lane,

• Geologist & author Marcia Bjonerud,

• Philosopher Biologist Andreas Weber,

• Yale Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Brandon Ogbunu,

• Astrophysicist Tom Murphy,

• Microbiologist Siv Watkins,

• systems ecologist Professor Bill Rees,

• Paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and senior editor of the scientific journal Nature Henry Gee,

• microbial ecologolist and science writer Dr Gregroy Crocetti,

• Writer and Executive Editor Humans & Nature Press Books Center for Humans & Nature Gavin Van Horn,

• writer and Zen teacher Roshi Susan Murphy,

• Co-creator of Permaculture David & Su Holmgren,

• author and thought leader Jeremy Lent,

• Deathwalker Zenith Virago,

• Eco-philospher Glenn Albrecht,

• proud First Nations K/Gamilaroi complexity thinker Josh Waters,

• botany professor Dr James White,

• educator extraordinaire Dr Cher HIll,

• wildlife biologist and author Dr Fred Provenza,

• Award winning science fiction author Laura Jean Mckay,

• ecological storyteller Sophie Strand,

• Biologist and author David George Haskell,

• theoretical physicist and feminist theorist Karen Barad,

• mother-daughter Permaculture practivist team Morag Gamble and Maia Raymond,

• innovator of the worldwide nature jounalling movement John Muir Laws,

• Andrew Turbill - the bird guy

• regenerative agriculturalist Charlie Massy.

The Here We Are project is the result of generosity of our Founding Members. Thank you for your patience and believing in me. I am forever grateful to Daniel Floris, Judi Floris, Sven and Pam Floris, Yolanda Floris, Mary Floris, Andy Richards, Libby Tooth, Wyan Carter, Liz Francis, Kate McCormack, Gray Taylor, Margaux Hayes, Adam Grubb, Meg Selman, Peta White, Matt Nicholson, Lou-Ellen Martin, Julian Jeffs, the Kilstra-Shone family, Bradley Nitins, Scale Free Network, Pablo Alvarado, Milly Flook, Joleen Hess, Jodie Clegg, Ursula Malfeit, Rachel Altenbacher, Emily Samuels-Ballentyne,  Callum Bryant, Tash van Velzen, Peta Christensen, Chris Ennis and the tireless efforts and tunes of Michael Garfield. Thank you beyond words. Here We Are FINALLY!

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